A Special Kind of Something-Part 1
by TGLB27
Summary: Hannah Abbott, Hogwarts Alumni and all around good girl is starting a new job and maybe even a new relationship with an old friend. Let's tag along as she embarks on this journey.


Only able to be found by those who know that it's there, The Leaky Cauldron is tucked away between a few shops in London. An access point for witches and wizards to rest their heads and enjoy a butterbeer or fire-whiskey before heading off into Diagon Alley for shopping or work. The Inn is the only access that wizards have to Diagon alley from Muggle London so it is, of course, a bustling place most of the time, and in particular during the summer holidays when students are on their way to get their school supplies.

Tom, the proprietor, was sitting behind the bar reading the Daily Proffitt. The headline read: Headmistress McGonagall brings in new Herbology Professor. As Tom continued to peruse his paper the bell on the door heading out to the muggle side of the street opened and a young girl of around 20 years old walked in, a trunk floating behind her. She had blonde hair, pulled up in a ponytail and she was wearing olive green robes. Tom looked up, put his paper down and smiling said, "Hannah. How was your trip?."

The girl took out her wand, waved it at her trunk and it fell gently to the floor, she sat down on a stool opposite him, "It was alright, how are you?"

"Better now that you're here. Butterbeer?"

"Yeah that sounds great Uncle Tom, and you know I really appreciate this."

"Well putting you in charge is as much a gift to me as it is to you dear."

"Still, I'm happy for the opportunity," Hannah said taking a swig of her butterbeer. "I just don't fit in at the ministry, it's not me. I know many of my friends went that route, but I just don't get it."

"Well, not everyone is suited to government work. There's no shame in that."

"I suppose. So, when are you leaving?"

"I figured I'd stay with you here a few days, show you the ropes and then I'd head off for my sabbatical. That alright with you?"

"Sounds perfect."

"So the next few days should be pretty slow, but we normally start picking up when August hits. All the Hogwarts students begin filing in and we do get a lot of muggle borns as well. They often need some help with the wall, so keep that in mind."

"Got it."

"I do have a few staff here most days to help."

"Uncle Tom, I have been here before you know." Hannah said with a sweet smile.

"I know." He replied, "I've just never not been here."

"I'll take good care of the place. I promise."

"Of course. Well, how about you go put your truck upstairs, go have yourself a little fun in the alley and when you come back, we'll go over a few things."

"Sounds great." Hannah took out her wand again and waved it casually toward her trunk, which then lifted off the ground again and hovered behind her. "I'll be down in a few." Hannah made her way up the narrow wooden staircase, her trunk following behind her as she went. She walked all the way down the long corridor to the last door, it had a gold plaque that read LANDLORD on it. The door pushed open and she walked inside. The room was small, but it had a very comfortable looking four poster bed, a wardrobe, a desk, a chest of drawers and a small end table with an oil lamp. Hannah took off her traveling cloak and sat down on the bed that she now knew for sure was quite comfortable. Her trunk landed in front of her on the floor, she waved her wand at it again and said, "alohamora." It sprung open, she then waved the wand again and her things began to put themselves away, robes hung themselves in the wardrobe, pictures placed themselves on the desk and the end table and her muggle clothes (which were essentially a few pairs of jeans, and some sweaters) put themselves in the drawers.

Once everything was put away Hannah grabbed her bag and went back downstairs. There was a customer in the pub now; sitting alone at the bar reading the paper. His back was to her, and as she approached she looked around for her uncle but did not see him. Deciding to help out (which was why she was there in the first place) she stepped behind the bar and approached the man, "have you been helped?" she asked sweetly. The man looked up and Hannah broke into a wide smile, "Neville?" She said excitedly

"Hannah!" Neville replied, "what are you doing here?"

"I'm taking over the pub for a while. Tom, the proprietor, he's my uncle."

"Really? I didn't know?"

"Yeah, I guess it just never came up with a lot of people. Anyway, yeah, I left the ministry about 6 months ago."

"I heard you were there. You didn't like it?"

"Well, I liked working with some of our friends, seriously, I loved working with Hermione Granger so much, but I'm just not me to be a bureaucrat. She's doing such good things for magical creatures, I'm sure she'll be the minster of magic one day, that's just not my dream."

Neville smiled at her again and Hannah felt a little heat rush to her cheeks, "I understand, that's not me either, though Gran really wanted me to work inside the ministry, said I should want to be part of the rebuilding since I was such a part of the revolution."

"I understand where she is coming from, but I don't see you there either."

"Yeah, it's not me."

"So what are you up to these days Neville?"

"Actually, I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"Back to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah, professor Sprout retired at the end of last term and she and McGonagal reached out, said they thought I'd be great to take up the post of herbology professor."

"Oh Neville, that's amazing. You would do a wonderful job teaching herbology. It was always your strongest subject while we were in school."

"Thanks, yeah I've always loved it, there's just something so satisfying in growing something yourself."

"Oh I quite agree, I can't wait to get a few planters around here. I know it's dark, but…"

"There are lots of plants that thrive in the dark, I can help you."

"That would be really nice." Just then the bell from the back-door rand and Tom reemerged in bar, he smiled at his niece and came behind the bar. "Where did you go?" Hannah asked him

"Just showing a family where to get started in the Alley. Glad to see you've jumped right in to help out."

"That's why I'm here." Hannah patted her uncle on the back and smiled.

"She's gonna be great." Neville said

"I couldn't' agree more," Tom replied, "but since I'm not gone yet, why don't you go and have a little fun, be back for supper."

"You sure?" Hannah asked

"I insist, you'll be busier than shit in a few weeks time, go on."

Hannah made her way out from behind the bar, Neville, now standing said "Well, would you like to come with me? I have a few things to pick up we could wander together?"

"Yeah that would be awesome." Hannah led the way out the back door and into the small garden, she faced the brick wall and tapped her wand on the brick three up and two across from the trash bin that stands there. The wall shuddered at the touch of her wand and in about 45 seconds the entire wall had moved aside forming a large archway leading onto a winding street filled with people and shops as far as the eye could see. "Shall we?" Hannah turned toward Neville smiling.

The pair stepped onto the Alley and started walking, "do you need anything specific?" Neville asked thoughtfully.

"Not really, I think my uncle just wants me to remember to have fun, what do you need to get?"

Neville pondered this question for a second, "Well, I need some quills and some red ink for marking, I need to go to Noltie's Botanical Novelties. Oh and I need to stop in at Flourish and Blotts, Professor Sprout told me that I need to check that they have textbooks in stock that are recommended, oh and I need a new pair of Dragon-hide gloves, mine are pretty beaten up."

Hannah smiled and nodded, "well we better get started. Let's hit the book shop first, that's just a quick check, what books are you recommending?"

"I'm sticking with the Encyclopedia of Toadstools and One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, but I am also adding Magical Water Plants of the Mediteranian. Ever since I got a copy of that book in the fourth year, I've found it very handy, even if it was given to me by a mad man." Neville shuddered slightly remembering back to the fake Professor Mad-Eye Moody, then his face sank at the thought of the real (and long since passed) Alastor Moody. "It's a good book." He completed his thought feeling sullen.

"Yeah, our years at Hogwarts were just the best and the worst years all rolled together. Ernie always says it made us all stronger, but I guess only time will tell."

"Ernie McMillon?"

"Oh yeah."

"Are you guys still together?"

Hannah put her head down, "No, not really."

"Not really?"

"He broke up with me when I left my job at the ministry."

"Why?"

Hannah sighed, "he said he didn't think it would work out if we weren't in the same place." She used air quotes when she said the last two words.

"The same place physically?"

"To be honest, I still don't know, but you remember him. Ernie has always been very pragmatic, he fits there; I never did. He keeps sending me owls, but it's been like 6 months now. He knows I'm taking over the pub and I'm happy with that, I love people and I think it will be good for me, so that's it."

"You sure?"

"Why are you so interested Neville?"

Neville flushed, "I don't know. I thought you would be married by now, it feels like everyone else is."

"You're not."

"Well, me. Who would want to marry me?"

"Are you serious. You are the bravest and kindest person I think I know, ever."

"Me?"

"Yeah, I mean, sure Harry was brave, a lot of us were brave, but Neville, you took control at Hogwarts. You protected all of us, and you stood up to." She quieted her tone to a whisper, "to Voldemort in front of the entire school and all his death eaters. You killed his snake. You've done so much, and all without your parents too. You don't get enough credit."

By this point Neville and Hannah were standing just outside the bookshop; Neville stopped and looked at her thoughtfully. "No one has ever said that to me before."

"Not even Luna?"

Neville smiled, then kind of chuckled to himself, "Luna. Yeah, she was lovely, and we're still friends, but she and I weren't a great fit, romantically. It didn't last long after we left school."

"I heard she's been dating Rolf?"

"Yeah she is, we're cool, friends. I guess she's just more into animals than plants." Hannah laughed loudly at this joke, then looked around embarrassed.

Still giggling she said, "that was funny. Are you always this funny?"

"Not to most people." Hannah laughed again.

"Well, other people suck. Come on lets go in." They walked into the bookshop, Hannah stepped away so Neville could speak to one of the employees and as she wandered through the teetering piles of books she continued to peek back at Neville. She had never really noticed how cute he was; and she felt herself flush at the thought of maybe going out with him. _No way_ she thought to herself _I shouldn't even be thinking about dating now, I need to focus on the pub and doing a good job. This cannot happen right now. I'll just make sure to let him know I don't want to date. Unless he's not interested, I'm sure he's not, why would he go out with me anyway, I'm so boring, I guess…._

"Hey, you ready?" Neville asked as he came up behind her; startled, Hannah jumped, lost in her thoughts. "Sorry, didn't mean to frighten you."

Hannah giggled, "You didn't, I'm just thinking, it's nothing. Yeah I'm ready." Neville smiled at her and turned on his heel to head back toward the door, Hannah's head fell as she followed him back out onto the alley, _I'm such an idiot_ she thought to herself. The pair walked around for another hour or so, popping into shops and chatting about life post Hogwarts. "So, is Professor Sprout going to stay on this year?"

"She is." Neville said, "she's going to be sort of training me in the post."

"That's nice. I love Professor Sprout, and I'm not just saying that because I'm a Hufflepuff, she's such a good teacher, and so passionate and caring."

"She really is, and she was always one of the only great teachers we had who I wasn't afraid of." They both laughed

"Oh come on, you can't have been afraid of Professor McGonagal, she was your head of house."

"Well I was never super at Transfiguration, I never even went to the NEWT level, but I guess not, she's always been very kind to me, she even hired me on Professor Sprout's recommendation."

"Yeah, she was a harsh teacher, but always fair, I enjoyed transfiguration."

"You're better at it than I am."

"True." Hannah smiled up at him again, his cheeks flushed

"It's warm today." Neville said changing the subject

"Yeah, well it's about to be summer time."

"Want to go to Florean Fortescue's for an ice cream?"

Hannah thought for a second, "Ice cream sounds lovely actually."

Two weeks later Hannah was into a great Rhythm at the Leaky Caldron, she worked well with everyone and things were very smooth. Tom had been gone for about a week and the pub was getting busier every day, but she was loving it. Every day was different and all the people who came in and out were always interesting; Hannah had even been able to show a new muggle born and her family around Diagon Alley and helped them get to the bank to exchange their muggle money. It seemed that she had finally found the perfect fit.

On one oddly slow Sunday afternoon Hannah sat behind the bar cleaning glasses when the bell from the back garden rang. She looked up and saw Neville Longbottom, she flushed a little but smiled at him as he walked over. "Hey." She said in what she hoped was a confident voice.

"Hannah, how are you today?"

"Great, what are you doing here? I thought you did all your errands the last time you were here?"

"I came to see you." He said brightly

"Me?" She pointed at herself with a bit of surprise.

"Sure, wanna do something?"

"Well, I'm working."

Neville looked around at the empty room, cocked an eyebrow and looked back at her. "yeah, no idea how you'll be able to step away from this maddnes."

She laughed, "I mean I'm alone here today so I can't just leave. But I'd love to do something with you, maybe another day? She asked hopefully.

"I'll just hang out. School doesn't start until the 1st, and the school is dead. I've got everything prepared, for the first few weeks of lessons and Professor Sprout is still around helping me so, there's not much for me to do either."

"So you want to be bored together?"

"Yeah."

"I'm open to suggestions, unless you want to hop back here and help me clean glasses?" Neville did just that, he grabbed an apron hanging in the back, put it on and began helping Hannah do whatever needed doing. He mopped the floor, dusted and after about two hours he was outside on the Diagon Alley side of the street scrubbing up the windows. While he stood outside hosing down the window he had just finished up Hannah appeared at his side with loud pop. "Nice."

"AHHHHHH!" Neville screamed and fell to the ground.

"Oh, so sorry Neville, did I frighten you?"

He stood clumsily, "Nah." He laughed, "sorry, why did you apparate out here?"

"I just don't get to do it much, no reason really."

"Even when you worked at the ministry?"

"No, I lived in London with my mum, so it was close enough to walk to the main entrance from there, I did occasionally if I was running late."

"I've never much cared for apparating, but I'm also not that great at it. Don't fancy splinching myself to save a little time."

"I completely agree. Anyway, I decided to close for now, I put a sign on both doors. No one is staying in the inn and we haven't had a customer come in for hours. It's Sunday, so I'll probably have a few come for dinner, but that's not for a while, so what did you want to do?"

Suddenly faced with actually having to think of something to do that was "date-like" Neville began to sweat. "uhhh, well I'm not sure." Hannah smiled and Neville continued, "to be truthful I didn't actually have anything in mind, I didn't know if you would be up for it or not."

"Well," Hannah began, "you've been here helping me with my work today, why don't you show me yours?"

"You've seen the green houses at Hogwarts?"

"But not with you as the teacher. Plus, you know I love herbology, I'm a Hufflepuff after all, Professor Sprout always encouraged us to have a love of the garden and different plants."

"Ok." Neville replied

"Great." Hannah took his hand and in an instant they were swirling together in a blur of country scenery until suddenly they were not moving anymore. Neville wavered once again, but was able to stay on his feet. Hannah giggled, "you ok?" she asked him as he steadied himself.

"Whoa, yeah, sorry wasn't expecting that."

"Spontaneity cures most unnecessary anxieites Neville. You should remember that."

As Neville stood with his hands on his knees he replied, "I'll work on that." Hannah giggled, then looked up at the grand gate that sat on the edge of the grounds to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"It feels like home every time I see I this place. Especially after what we all went through protecting it and each other." Hannah said as she gazed at the gate. "I don't think I'll ever be as comfortable anywhere as I was within those walls." She turned toward Neville who had finally straightened up and joined her.

"I love this place too." He replied, "maybe that's why working here feels so right for me."

"I'm sure." She said, then continued, "should we go in?"

"Oh right." Neville fumbled in his robes for a second then pulled out his wand. He waved it casually in front of the lock, then the gate swung open allowing them access into the grounds.

"So what is that secret unlock spell that only the teachers seem to know?" Hannah inquired as they walked up toward the castle.

"Faculty secret. Sorry." Neville said impishly, a smirk curling across his face.

"It's silent Alohamora isn't it?"

"Maybe." He replied and they both laughed. As they approached the main entry to the castle Neville slowed down. "So, did you want to go around to the greenhouses, or did you want to go inside."

"Oh can we go inside, it's been so long."

"Sure." They walked up the stairs and Neville pushed the large door, but it didn't budge. "Hmm." He said, confused. He pushed again, this time harder, and still nothing. He decided, silly as it seemed, to go ahead and try knocking. _Bang, Bang, Bang-_ the sound erupted around them like cannon fire as Neville let go of the giant knocker in the middle of the door. With a puff of dust and a loud creek the door slowly opened, and they walked into the main entry way. There was a kind of golden light that illuminated everything. It seemed grander then it ever had, even more so than on the first day either of them had set foot in this castle. The marble staircase almost humming with warmth that made them feel at ease. "Come on." Neville said making his way toward the stairs, "come see my office." He took her hand the pair made their way upstairs, down the hall, past the faculty lounge and finally arrived at the door.

"It still says Professor Pomona Sprout." Hannah said curiously looking at the door.

"Yeah, Professor McGonagal said she would be sure it was changed before term starts, but come on in." Neville opened the door and as he ushered Hannah inside he was caught off-guard by two women sitting on either side of his desk. The one behind the desk was a shorter and slightly plump with gray hair sticking out of a hat that was covered in earth; the second taller, slim and with small round glasses that sat on the bridge of her nose.

"Longbottom." The taller of the two witches greeted him as he walked in the door, standing as she did. "Good to see you, we are in fact invading your office, apologies."

"It's no problem Headmistress, you just surprised me that's all."

"Of course, and I see you have a visitor. "

"Oh! Ms. Abbott!" The plump witch got up and ran over to Hannah hugging her around the middle, "how are you my dear! It is so wonderful to see you."

Hannah smiled warming and replied, "I'm wonderful Professor Sprout, Professor McGonagal, I'm so happy we came in now, Neville." The two older women exchanged a glance that Hannah noticed, so she continued. "We were just going to go see the greenhouses, but I so wanted to come in for old times sake."

"I see." Professor McGonagal said. "Well it was very wonderful to see you. What are you up to these days Abbott?"

"Well currently I'm running The Leaky Cauldron."

"That's wonderful." Professor Sprout replied, "how did you come about that?"

"Well," Hannah explained, "Tom, the proprietor there, is my uncle and he wanted to take a bit of a sabbatical. So I offered my help. I quite like it too, far more than I thought I would and worlds more than when I was working at the Ministry."

"You've always been a smart girl Abbott, and I know you'll be able to handle it all with grace."

"Just like a Hufflepuff." Professor Sprout added, beaming at her.

"Professor." Hannah began addresses Professor Sprout, "I thought you were retiring? Isn't that why Neville got the position?"

"Oh yes I am dear girl, but I'll be hanging around a while. I've lived here a long time after all; and figured Longbottom might need some advice here and there as he starts his first term." Professor Sprout spoke as if every word brought her joy enough to burst into laughter. He plump face sparkled with the glow of kindness and genuine love.

"And I'll appreciate every minute you stay." Neville added.

"Oh silly." Professor sprout said as she waved him off and began toward the door, "coming Minerva?" Professor Sprout opened the door.

"Enjoy your visit Ms. Abbott, perhaps I'll see you on the grounds again." Professor McGonagal winked at Neville as she passed by him. "You will always be welcome at Hogwarts."

To Be Continued


End file.
